Thursday, June 28, 2012

Not A Relaxing Day In The Garden

It is hot and dry in the garden. Our garden plants are struggling while the weeds seem to be in their glory. Until we get some real rain, it's weed and water over and over. My carefully thinned scarlet runner beans are planted in front of the house. That is a hot spot and the beans nearly got singed to a crisp. Ed watered them just in time. We will have to make sure they stay on the plant watering list.

In the meantime the several year old scarlet runner bean seeds that I had thrown on the rough compost pile already have their beautiful red flowers. This is the place where we pile the very worst of our weeds. Sheep sorrel, quack grass, burdock, ragweed, French weed, purslane, dock... all get dumped here. These beans are doing fine. They are well ahead of my cultivated ones. I guess they will just climb up the weeds. I'm sure the hummingbirds will be happy to sip their nectar no matter where they are growing. Perhaps there is something to be said for letting the plants decide who lives or dies. But that's not what gardeners do. We chose the plants we want to grow and which ones to weed out.

Tonight I had (yuck) yet another tick for Ed to remove. This one was one of those ticks with one white spot. Thank goodness it came off easily! It's my own fault. I've been good about wearing white and tucking my pants in my socks, but I had become lax about using the insect repellent. I find the stuff extremely repellent myself! It is my habit to put it on my clothing and hat instead of my skin. I'm sure after a big laundry frenzy and a few days of the creepy crawlies, I'll be back out there again. I'll be easy to find me just follow your nose to where the garden smells a bit "Off ".